Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-04-25
TRACK OF THE TORNADO.
STREWN THICklY WITH RUINED
HOMES AND DEAD PEOPLE.
Five Hundred Miles OF Territory Raw
aged and Left Barren Will
derness.

are that the loss of life was much greater
than first reported. The storm ravaged
strip of territory about 500 miles long and
from half mule to mile wide. This path
is covered with the debris of thousands of
homes Scores of isolated hamlets eff direct
lines of communication are known to have
been VISITED by the Storm but the disastrous
results have not yet been ascertained.
The cyclone was fit st heard of early Thurs
day afternoon at Colony, Anderson county,
about forty miles northwest of Fort Scott
| Il was preceded by rumbiug sound such as
usually accompanies an earthquake. The
! color Of thu cloud was combination of green
| and yellow, and without any warning ex-
| cept the noise referred to 1t swept down on
| Colony aud tore the little town To fragments
| Ten Thousand dollars worth of property
WIS destroyed and one aged woman who
was sitting i'll a farm house doorway was
| killed
| The storm dashed over the southern por-
| tinn of Anderson and Linn counties, travel
| ing due east until it reached Prescott, a town
of about oa1 inhabitants in the southeast
| corner of Linn county The advance in the
| village was accompanied 10y the rumblng
! noise which precaiei 1t at Colony, and with
I
moth baistnnsl The cioHi had at this
| time, early Thursday evening, assumed the
! funnel shape that indicates its most destruc-
/ tive mood In its progress through the
| town It razei 2e0 buildings. killed twelve
persons, aud nnimed twice as many more
| Houses were pickai up from their founda-
! tons, carried from 100 yards to a quarter of
| mile, and then ia bed violently to the
ground The dwelling house Of Richard
| Harkness, containing ms wife AMI family Of
! four children and a young woman named
| Minnick, who lives at oakwooi, Ill. was
picked w in the manner described and trans
ported to an orchard 300 yards away. where
| it droppsd on a high apple tree. and, though
| the occupants are all seriously injured, it is
| believed they will recover. The Il weilinss in
nearly every case were shattered TO frag-
mants and the loss of life vas caused as
much by flyiRs Imbers as the violence of
tue storm.
| Four miles from Prescott Mr.. Flinn's resi-
dence ~as smashed ami Mrs Finn and three
small children mortality injured and two Wis
| itors danger Wy hurt. Jacob Brock and
/ wife ami one son, William McPold and wife
! ami child, alsn OF thiS vicinIty, were fatally
! injured few miles from this scene W S
| Bogart, Mrs. NJ Odel!, Mr Hogan, wife, aod
! two children nai taken refuge IN a storm
cellar, when eight cows fell On them through
| the roof, and all were severely hurt Will
! lam BrownIugbura's family found refuge in
! a storm cave, while a q. 90 house was scat
| tered over the fields Ten miles northwest
! of Prescott Mrs Sarah Crane was killed and
| her family injured by the crushing of the
| house In distance Of twenty-five miles
only one house is known to have stood the
storm. H. c. Trlpp of Kansas City, was
| standing IN the doorway of Manlove Broth
ers' Z ocery store in Prescott, when the
building destroyed and ne was killed
| Nearly every house at Miami Junction, five
miles north of Prescott. was blown down
and several persons injured
The death-roll at Pre,cngt is subioined:
William NJ Hale, Patrick Flynn and three
! children Mrs Sarah Crone Constable job
| Stevens, j lcob Brnach and wife Mrs Doug
| lass Waiter and infant, an infant of s p
! DINING, and an infant of Joe Duncan Fully
! thirty persons are manned and in jured, many
/ of whom VII de.
| News has been received from Blue Mound
and Mapleton, small towns just west of Pres
colt in Lun county, that several persons
had been killed in thoSs places and tina: the
From Prescott the cyclone Travelled direct
Is east across tie X nsas line into the south
ern portion Of bates county. Missouri
/ SpraEue, a town of jju inhabitants, SIX miles
west OF Il h Hal, was the first point ylsit4L
The storm reached the state line about sun
set, and the uppr ach was herlidei by dense
masses vel! wish clouds, accompanied by
vivid fieshe- oi lightning, Tue ommons roar
ff.. .
sought safety IN cyclone cellars ami caves
\ " AMI then. A. tine lightning flashed the
funnel-shapai cloud could b. -s1l reaching
down to she earth and robuunilug a gain nigh
in the air, Bsjween Spra-ue and the vii
lage Of Hume four miles nprtl, the whole
territory ,ssa, q svasteagI. Fences, trees, and
dwellings were crushed ioatoms. Niles Mil
Ter, farmer near Spragus. AMI his wife and
child were Killed while trying to effect an en-
trance to cyclone cave. A young woman
ami Child We're saved, bat dangerously in
jured The bodies OF fIr. and Mrs Miller
were blown into well sixty feet deep
About fifty houses were destroyed al Sprague
and nearly % per-on7 injured, many OF
them. it IS believed. fatally
Humble S-atiou, on the Pacific railroad
was destroyed, o1lp Que house being lett
standing. Dr. Smitbs hnus,, three mics
from Rich Hit was blown to atoms and
MIS-. Shlth fatally Ihjure'l her daughter
in-Iaw, Mrs Ryan, and her two children,
were also biHiy hur'. Two hired men on the
place also received Injuries Ali the stables
anu sf'h''rt'' on t',r bruce place were de-
i''''S"ei, Al tHe VI ''el iniHi, 1iIee lliies
"esO VI 9P'''-"'' si''-t''i'i res, "afu7
anu o'i'-l9 a. iii'9 C'L5''e
anu huiilIer u h''5a' ami "tief STOCK hilled,
into the wolf and droyp.d IN. farr,- bo,,sss
uel Porter GEORGE Hiber l. Martnnn I